Martin Scorsese urges filmmakers to fight back against comic book movie culture

Martin Scorsese is awaiting the release of his upcoming film Killers of the Flower Moon. In a new interview with GQ, the Academy Award-winning director lamented over the influence of comic book and franchise films in the present and urged filmmakers to 'fight back' against this trend by championing originality.

In a new interview with GQ, Martin Scorsese spoke at length about the impact of franchise films and said, "The danger there is what it's doing to our culture. Because there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those — that's what movies are... Which means that we have to fight back stronger. And it's got to come from the grassroots level. It's come from the filmmakers themselves. And you'll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you'll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit 'em from all sides. Hit 'em from all sides, and don't give up. Let's see what you got. Go out there and do it. Go reinvent. Don't complain about it. But it's true because we've got to save cinema."

In an earlier interview a few years ago, the director had gained significant media attention for comparing Marvel movies to theme parks and saying that they are not cinema.

The director also reacted strongly to the streaming-era definition of content, and said, "I do think that the manufactured content isn't really cinema. It's almost like AI making a film. And that doesn't mean that you don't have incredible directors and special effects people doing beautiful artwork. But what does it mean? What do these films, what will it give you? Aside from a kind of consummation of something and then eliminating it from your mind, your whole body, you know? So what is it giving you?"

Martin Scorsese is one of the most revered filmmakers working in Hollywood today. The 80-year-old director has made films including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman among others. Killers of the Flower Moon first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year in May where it received a nine-minute-long standing ovation. Based on David Grann's book of the same name, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone and Brendan Fraser. It was released in theatres on 20 October.